Thursday, 30 October 2008

Some spine-tingling spookiness as Vincent sermonises on arcane subjects in his signature style. Even though it's a bit grand in its guignol, as OOT as it may be it's still not exactly for the squeamish thanks to the comprehensive coverage given the subject matter.

AMG Bio by Linda SeidaVincent Price came to be identified with gothic horror and crazed villainy through a series of leading film roles in the 1960s that were based on such Edgar Allan Poe poems and short stories as The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Masque of the Red Death. Thanks to the actor's wide exposure in those movies and others like them, his voice became immediately associated with the horror genre, opening the door for Price to contribute to a number of different recordings, as well as an album of his own.

His spooky laughter alone was enough to conjure all sorts of macabre thoughts and associations, and his elegant diction only enhanced the effect. A sampling of Price's contributions includes an appearance on Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare from Atlantic in 1975 and a guest spot on Michael Jackson's Thriller from Epic in 1982. He was also included on a 1998 children's soundtrack, Scooby-Doo's Snack Traks: The Ultimate Collection. Price's own album, Witchcraft and Magic, was released by Capitol Records.

SIDE 1 (25:30)PrologueThe Tale of Master SethHitler and WitchcraftWitchcraft In HistoryWomen As witchesWitch BurningWitch Tortures

SIDE 2 (25:56)Witch Tortures (continued)The World of Spirits and DemonsPreparation for MagicInstruments of MagicHow To Invoke Spirits, Demons, Unseen ForcesThe Magic BloodstoneThe Witches CauldronHow To Communicate with The Spirits

SIDE 3 (26:45)How To Communicate with The Spirits (continued)Gerald Yorke and NecromancyHow To Make A Pact with The DevilHow To Become A WitchCurses, Spells, Charms

Douglas Leedy , a classmate of Terry Riley, was on the experimental electronic scene pretty early. He made a bit of a stir in the late 60s with his recordings The Electric Zodiac and the influential electro-acoustic piece Entropical Paradise, a mammoth 3LP set (parts of which were used later in the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five). If you wanna get the jump on coming festivities he also whipped off a disc of xmas ditties.

As for Karshner, the internet only seems to want to return page after page of search results for plays written by someone of that name. Producer-wise, besides this eeffort I found an earlier Capitol LP by Eli Radish (a 1968 Danny Sheridan project with David Allan Coe) and a 2006 London Philharmonic Orchestra album. Not much seems to have happened in between as far as music is concerned so it's not beyond the pale to figure it was the same guy. Eve more tantalizingly obscure is Terry d'Oberoff. After some searching, the only other credit I could find elsewhere for him was writing the liner notes for Black Magic'sdebut album Where Love Is .

Now that we've cleared up where the love is, find the fear from Soundological HERE (RS Part1RS Part 2) or HERE (MF Part 1MF Part 2) (reloaded by overwhelming demand 2012-02-15).